This past weekend Team Mixed Plate for another year gathered in Sin City to fight to be kings of the Dirt Division. Sadly this year was a repeat of last year’s 5th finish, and it was especially hard on me this year because for once we really tried to win. We actually spent time this summer meeting up and practicing at the Artesia High gym, working on our offense, and defense and had a pretty good game plan going into the weekend.

Friday night’s game versus Wheelchair Bound went exactly according to plan. Our bigs were playing big, CJ was hitting his shot from outside and we built a small lead going into the second half. In the second half i got hot and blew open the game hitting my shots and pushing the lead to over 15 points.

We were feeling good going into Saturday’s morning game, but unfortunately old habits die hard. Our second opponent was versus Rebels and was a hard fought battle until the last second. We had to overcome our poor shooting in the first half to get back within 2 points with 30 seconds left in the game, but my poor game management left us without even getting a shot off, and that basically deflated the entire game.

For the battle for 3rd place we were just outmatched by LGN Busy Bees, with their quicker big guys blowing by our big guys, and their guards getting hot from the outside. By the end it wasn’t even close and we left with another white shirt. (First place gets a black shirt, 2nd and 3rd get a colored shirt).

It was another fun weekend for basketball but what really hurts the most is that we have to wait another year to try again.

Basketball isn’t of course the only reason for going to LVI, but getting the chance to hangout is the other reason. I rented a car from Alamo, and after some searching through all the American cars i found a Hyundai Sonata which i promptly snapped up because it had all the bells and whistles that i need for the long drive out to the desert. With the iPhone all hooked up and the car packed up with picked up another friend in Temple City and left the city by 10pm and got to the Cal by 2am.

Joy and I checked in, threw all our bags into the room and headed down to the Market Cafe for some Oxtail Soup. Even though i know that there are boiled peanuts floating in the soup, i actually ate quite a bit of the meat off the bones, and even some soup with no ill effect. Afterwards we headed back up to turn in for the night. Up until i got hit up on an instagram image i took of the food, and found out my high school friend was getting married the same weekend and a group was at the restaurant that very moment. So i put my shorts back on and went down to catch up for a few minutes.

The next day after the breakfast buffet at Market Cafe again, a group of teammates headed over to the Forum Shops to do some shopping. We spent a lot of time in the Nike Store, and H&M doing some shopping then headed over to Palace Station to check out the Oyster Bar for some Cajun style cooking. While waiting for a seat Joy and I hopped onto the penny slots to get some free beers, and Joy ended up winning $35. The food was really good and spicy and many were left a sweaty mess. Probably not the best thing to eat with a basketball game later that evening but we still managed to win.

After Saturday’s disappointing losses the team gathered up for another Steak Buffet at the Fremont Hotel rather than going to SW Steakhouse at the Wynn which we planned to go eat at if we had won the whole thing.

Joy’s co-workers also just so happened to be in Vegas the same weekend so we decided to meet up with them at Planet Hollywood after dinner and hit the dance floor at Gallery. We had a few drinks, danced a few songs and enjoyed our last night in Vegas more than i expected. Once we were done, it gathered up everyone to go to the Secret Pizza Place at the Cosmopolitan Hotel to soak up the booze before heading back to the room. The whole trip besides the Basketball losses turned out to be a really fun trip with seeing old friends, and trying to places to eat.